Our Final Farewell
Friday, June 23
We pretty much had a quiet day in anticipation of our party at the camp for the Detskidom. We got all our gifts distributed and wrapped up and had lunch and waited for the 3:00 phone call or door knock saying lets go! We were ready at 2:30 just in case. One never knows when the call might come. So we had our packages ready our shoes on and we waited…and we waited…3:30…4:00…4:30! We knew they were expecting us at 4:00 so we were a little anxious. Finally at 4:40 we sent Sasha up to Marina’s apartment to ask, “What was the deal”!!! They called Marina and she said it would be 6:00. Ok. The kids meanwhile were getting edgy. I made the decision to take them to play computers to work off a little energy since we had a whole hour to spare. When we got back they were loading the car for our departure. Of course they wanted us to hurry! When we got in the car Garrett said Marina had called and said the delay was because of trying to get our passport paperwork done and stuff being translated. Of course that was understandable!!!
We rode in the car for about 40 minutes across the Karaganda countryside and it was a gorgeous day. It was a little cool and low humidity with thunderstorms about. The plains were lush and green looking with little villages dotted here and there. They had tiny, tall house with slanted roofs. They almost did not look real from a distance. It was like 50 houses in a field surrounded by make shift fences. I would have liked to have taken a picture but we were traveling at the speed of sound and they would not have turned out. We were obviously very late. The roads are narrow and potholes are abundant. We turned down an even more narrow road in a field and followed it around for bit till we came to a locked gate with some buildings in the distance. They person with the key was no where to be found so we walked to the building on the left and Sasha immediately recognized it. It was the place they came when they arrived back in Kaz after visiting America last summer.
As soon as we went around the corner kids started coming over and smiling and waving and shaking Sasha’s hand. Stella ran upstairs in the first part of the building to see if anyone was up there and we walked down to the dining area which is where just about everyone was finishing up. They had been waiting on us all day and were so glad to see us! It was so nice. We found Rada and Andrey and they took us on a tour of the dorm areas. They were very clean and orderly. The camp is basically a long, narrow two story building divided into two sections. I do not think they use the first floor in the part they sleep in and it has about 8 different rooms of all sizes with beds in each. The whole camp is in this one corridor. That is 6 families in one space. I never did find out where the mamas sleep. The mamas come to camp in two week blocks of time and trade out with the other mama for each family group. There is one t.v. in the hallway. After our tour we went outside and realized everyone was gathering in arranged seating for a concert. We were given a seat of honor front and center with Marina. They had prepared many different acts for us of different performances from singing to dancing to a speech. First of all though they called us forward and had gifts for us! They had Kazakstan t-shirts in bold yellow, baseball caps and lapel pins. They also had a calendar, pens and a video of the history of Karaganda. It was so unexpected! We enjoyed it all. Marina stood up and told the camp of the gifts we and our families were giving to the orphanage and they were all very excited and very thankful. They then sang us a song…a chant really…”spa-ce-ba, spa-ce-ba!” They sang it over and over again while they clapped their hands. This means ‘Thank you” in Russian.
Then we were invited to a dinner of salad, potatoes, chicken, and apples juice or compote as they call it. It was all delicious and we enjoyed our little private dinner in the dining room. After dinner we had some tea in big tea cups with no handle. They also served sugar in a bowl with 6 spoons sticking out to pass around, very original I think. After dinner we distributed the gift we had for the kids and they were very excited. We took a bunch of pictures and Garrett just rolled video so we could get as much of the experience as possible. We do not want to forget this place or these people. We have so many special friends there. Stella’s mamma that speaks English made a special trip to be there to see us. It makes it so much more enjoyable when you have that language connection.
There are two girls at the orphanage that came to America in Kidsave last summer and their families will not be able to adopt them now. I took some picture of them and will post them on the blog and do what I can to help them be adopted. They need a family, along with Andrey, and deserve one since they think they are coming to America already. The girls are 9 years old and very tiny. One is Carrina and is beautiful with dark hair and the other is Luda who I have written about before. She is also beautiful with blonde hair and blue eyes and very photogenic! We are praying for good homes for all three.
We talked to Rada and Andrey quite a bit and we brought gifts for them. Rada got a CD player that her family in Colorado has been trying to get to her for a while. She was very excited and she and one of her friends stood listening to it with a earphone in each ear with big grins from ear to ear to ear. We gave Andrey his own Gameboy. We found a place in Karaganda that had one and some games. He was very cute about it. He hugged both of us goodbye twice and asked us when we would be calling him. They will go home from camp on August the 28th. I told him we would call on that day and he seemed very pleased. When he hugged me the last time he said, “Kelley, I like you very much!” I will miss him so much!
The kids followed us to the car and Sasha and Stella’s mammas hugged them close and kissed them and whispered in their ears and then we were in the van and whisked away with them running and waving behind us. The sky was so beautiful outside and there was a storm in the distance with lightening and rain. It was the first time we had been out so late and we enjoyed the ride back to town with all the lights of the city. It is very pretty at night. I am glad we could be here this time of year to enjoy the simple beauty of Karaganda.
We were tired when we got home but not too tired to build a fort before turning in. I thought maybe the kids would be down after seeing their friends but they handled it all so well. I think better than I would for sure.
We pretty much had a quiet day in anticipation of our party at the camp for the Detskidom. We got all our gifts distributed and wrapped up and had lunch and waited for the 3:00 phone call or door knock saying lets go! We were ready at 2:30 just in case. One never knows when the call might come. So we had our packages ready our shoes on and we waited…and we waited…3:30…4:00…4:30! We knew they were expecting us at 4:00 so we were a little anxious. Finally at 4:40 we sent Sasha up to Marina’s apartment to ask, “What was the deal”!!! They called Marina and she said it would be 6:00. Ok. The kids meanwhile were getting edgy. I made the decision to take them to play computers to work off a little energy since we had a whole hour to spare. When we got back they were loading the car for our departure. Of course they wanted us to hurry! When we got in the car Garrett said Marina had called and said the delay was because of trying to get our passport paperwork done and stuff being translated. Of course that was understandable!!!
We rode in the car for about 40 minutes across the Karaganda countryside and it was a gorgeous day. It was a little cool and low humidity with thunderstorms about. The plains were lush and green looking with little villages dotted here and there. They had tiny, tall house with slanted roofs. They almost did not look real from a distance. It was like 50 houses in a field surrounded by make shift fences. I would have liked to have taken a picture but we were traveling at the speed of sound and they would not have turned out. We were obviously very late. The roads are narrow and potholes are abundant. We turned down an even more narrow road in a field and followed it around for bit till we came to a locked gate with some buildings in the distance. They person with the key was no where to be found so we walked to the building on the left and Sasha immediately recognized it. It was the place they came when they arrived back in Kaz after visiting America last summer.
As soon as we went around the corner kids started coming over and smiling and waving and shaking Sasha’s hand. Stella ran upstairs in the first part of the building to see if anyone was up there and we walked down to the dining area which is where just about everyone was finishing up. They had been waiting on us all day and were so glad to see us! It was so nice. We found Rada and Andrey and they took us on a tour of the dorm areas. They were very clean and orderly. The camp is basically a long, narrow two story building divided into two sections. I do not think they use the first floor in the part they sleep in and it has about 8 different rooms of all sizes with beds in each. The whole camp is in this one corridor. That is 6 families in one space. I never did find out where the mamas sleep. The mamas come to camp in two week blocks of time and trade out with the other mama for each family group. There is one t.v. in the hallway. After our tour we went outside and realized everyone was gathering in arranged seating for a concert. We were given a seat of honor front and center with Marina. They had prepared many different acts for us of different performances from singing to dancing to a speech. First of all though they called us forward and had gifts for us! They had Kazakstan t-shirts in bold yellow, baseball caps and lapel pins. They also had a calendar, pens and a video of the history of Karaganda. It was so unexpected! We enjoyed it all. Marina stood up and told the camp of the gifts we and our families were giving to the orphanage and they were all very excited and very thankful. They then sang us a song…a chant really…”spa-ce-ba, spa-ce-ba!” They sang it over and over again while they clapped their hands. This means ‘Thank you” in Russian.
Then we were invited to a dinner of salad, potatoes, chicken, and apples juice or compote as they call it. It was all delicious and we enjoyed our little private dinner in the dining room. After dinner we had some tea in big tea cups with no handle. They also served sugar in a bowl with 6 spoons sticking out to pass around, very original I think. After dinner we distributed the gift we had for the kids and they were very excited. We took a bunch of pictures and Garrett just rolled video so we could get as much of the experience as possible. We do not want to forget this place or these people. We have so many special friends there. Stella’s mamma that speaks English made a special trip to be there to see us. It makes it so much more enjoyable when you have that language connection.
There are two girls at the orphanage that came to America in Kidsave last summer and their families will not be able to adopt them now. I took some picture of them and will post them on the blog and do what I can to help them be adopted. They need a family, along with Andrey, and deserve one since they think they are coming to America already. The girls are 9 years old and very tiny. One is Carrina and is beautiful with dark hair and the other is Luda who I have written about before. She is also beautiful with blonde hair and blue eyes and very photogenic! We are praying for good homes for all three.
We talked to Rada and Andrey quite a bit and we brought gifts for them. Rada got a CD player that her family in Colorado has been trying to get to her for a while. She was very excited and she and one of her friends stood listening to it with a earphone in each ear with big grins from ear to ear to ear. We gave Andrey his own Gameboy. We found a place in Karaganda that had one and some games. He was very cute about it. He hugged both of us goodbye twice and asked us when we would be calling him. They will go home from camp on August the 28th. I told him we would call on that day and he seemed very pleased. When he hugged me the last time he said, “Kelley, I like you very much!” I will miss him so much!
The kids followed us to the car and Sasha and Stella’s mammas hugged them close and kissed them and whispered in their ears and then we were in the van and whisked away with them running and waving behind us. The sky was so beautiful outside and there was a storm in the distance with lightening and rain. It was the first time we had been out so late and we enjoyed the ride back to town with all the lights of the city. It is very pretty at night. I am glad we could be here this time of year to enjoy the simple beauty of Karaganda.
We were tired when we got home but not too tired to build a fort before turning in. I thought maybe the kids would be down after seeing their friends but they handled it all so well. I think better than I would for sure.
posted by Princeton the Poodle @ 3:03 AM
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